Chances
by ThreeFoldLaw
Summary: Dally's initiation into the gang life was not what he expected. Problems arise and his life is forever changed by a single act. Pre-Outsiders. Disclaimer: I do not own the Outsiders.


Chances

Dallas could feel Jimmy's eyes glaring at him. "Come on Winston, be a man. Do ya want in or not? This is an easy job, any kid could do it. Just walk in, browse for a bit, and then grab something. It's not that hard."

"For you, maybe", Dally muttered under his breath.

Jimmy cuffed him roughly, "Watch your mouth; I hear any more shit like that and yer out. You do wanna be in our gang, don't ya?"

"Yeah man, I do, so lay off," Dally said, trying to be tough.

Jimmy rolled his eyes, "Jeez, you got a mouth, maybe I'll keep you for comic relief. Now hurry up, we don't have all day to wait for ya"

Dally looked behind him and saw two of Jimmy's thugs approaching him. If he didn't get going, he'd get a beating.

"Okay, okay, I'm going." Dally said quickly to appease the gang.

He emerged from the alley and ran across the street. A car honked at him and nearly ran him over, but Dally didn't care. Even if he did get himself run over, he'd still be accepted into the small New York gang for being tough.

Dallas let out a sigh when he finally reached the small corner store. He went to open the door and saw a tiny sticker near the handle. Dally squinted at it.

"Shoplifters will be prosecuted," he read aloud to himself. His teachers were right about him being dumb, the long words confused him. It did seem important, but he ignored it, he didn't have time.

As Dally pushed open the door, he caught a glimpse of his reflection. His white hair and light blue eyes made him look like a ghost. If he got any paler, he could disappear, he already had at home. His da would pay attention to him just long enough to find a reason to beat him, and his ma just sat on the couch and cried all day long.

When the bell above the door rang, the owner jerked his head away from the cigarette he was rolling. He was a large, bald man with brown skin and dark eyes. He glared at Dally suspiciously, as if he knew what Dally was going to do. Dally looked at the floor and quickly disappeared behind an aisle. He saw a shelf that was filled with candy. He considered taking a chocolate bar, but decided it was too easy; he wanted to do something dangerous, really prove himself to the gang.

Dally wandered between the aisles until the owner went to the back room. He crept quietly to the counter and looked behind it. His eyes easily found the handgun the store owner was hiding. Dally picked it up gently and inspected it, it was certainly something that would impress Jimmy. Dally heard a sound from the back room and scrambled out from behind the counter. He almost made it to the front door when a hand with a vice like grip latched onto his arm.

"What do you think you're doing kid?" the owner asked angrily.

Dally couldn't say anything. He froze and just stared at the huge, hulking man in front of him.

Eventually he was able to stammer, "I was just looking at it."

The man lowered his voice dangerously, "Give me the gun before someone gets hurt."

Dally began to panic, he struggled to get out of the man's grip. The store owner reached for the run, twisting Dally arm to gain leverage.

Dally clawed at him like an animal. "Let me go," he yelped in pain.

The man twisted harder and Dally dropped the gun. The man released him to go for the gun and Dally used the opportunity to kick him as revenge.

The owner stumbled backwards, holding the knee Dally had attacked. He growled menacingly and lurched over to Dally, who lunged for the gun. Dally's sweaty hands made him nearly drop the gun as he picked it up, but this time when the man grabbed at him, he whirled around and pulled the trigger.

The sound was louder than Dally had expected. It rang in his ears his vision swum a little bit. For a moment the store owner stood still and gaped at his chest in shock, then he tumbled backwards, knocking over a shelf as he fell.

Dally stared at the injured man, horrified at what he had just done. His thoughts were bouncing around his head and he couldn't think straight.

The door behind him opened abruptly and Jimmy and the rest of the gang rushed in. Jimmy took the gun from Dally and motioned to one of the other gang members who grabbed Dally by the collar and dragged him out of the shop. He gave Dally a push out into the street once they were outside and took off. Dally followed him back to the alley, where they were quickly joined by the rest of the gang.

Jimmy immediately jumped on Dally, "What the hell kid! You were supposed to steal somethin', not kill the guy!"

"I stole the gun!" Dally said insistently.

Jimmy grabbed him by the throat and pushed him up against the building waving the gun in his face. "I told you to steal somethin' easy, but as usual, you screwed things up. The cops are gonna be here any minute and I ain't takin' the fall for this," he warned.

As he spoke, sirens wailed in the distance and Dally could tell that they were only a few blocks away. Jimmy released Dally, and dropped the gun at his feet before taking off with the rest of the gang.

Dally followed behind them, but his short legs prevented him from catching the teenagers. One of the cop cars pulled into the alley and two police officers got out. When they saw Dally running, they immediately started to sprint after him.

Dally watched the older boys in front of him jump a fence and tried to do the same when he reached it, but he was too short and bounced off on his first try. He nervously glanced behind him and saw the cops closing in on him. He tried to climb the fence, but his foot got stuck between the links. Dally frantically tried to yank it out, but the police reached him before he could. They hauled him off the fence and wrestled him to the ground.

Dirt got in Dally's face as they struggled to put the handcuffs on him. He fought against them, but they had an advantage in size and force, and were able to restrain him.

"Don't bother resisting kid, you don't have a chance," one of the cops told him gruffly.

Dally gave one last violent thrash, but when the cop smacked him, he knew that they were right.


End file.
